Product Description

This product is designed to teach you basic Spanish vocabulary words. These 1000 plus words were specifically selected because are the most common and useful words that you will need to know in order to communicate with Spanish speakers throughout the entire Spanish-speaking world, including Spanish-speakers in the United States. This product is not intended to be a grammar book. Unlike many Spanish vocabulary word books that were developed in the past, this book is not limited to the needs of a typical traveler. In designing this book, special attention was given to the fact that the Spanish speaking population in the United States is rapidly increasing. With this in mind vocabulary is included that the typical traveler may never have to use. This entire audio CD is in Spanish. However, the publisher provides the listener with a link to download a pdf transcript that has a complete English and Spanish translation of the entire audio CD.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #690491 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-01
• Binding: Audio CD

Customer Reviews

An excellent learning tool, great price
For this low, low price you get a really great learning tool.

What I like best about these CDs is that they don't just give a list of words (which could be used as a sleep aid) but instead give you the word, its English meaning, and then use it in a sentence.

The sample sentence is not translated into English, but that's a good thing. I always tell people that talking and listening in English will never help you learn a foreign language. Drop English as soon as possible.

Also kudos to Anna Rivera; she sends out weekly e-mails with EXCELLENT study tips for Spanish. Of course she advertises products, but she never pushes you into buying them. The tips are free and very useful.

A perfect learning aid for me
I had studied Spanish in my home a lot before moving to Costa Rica recently. One of the problems with home study was that I was not hearing enough Spanish--even though I was using CDs in my study (e.g. Learning Spanish Like Crazy). I could say a lot more than I could hear and understand. I decided that I needed to learn to 'hear' Spanish. I had had this CD (1001 plus Most Powerful Words) for some time but had never used it. The CD has 1001 words (well, I haven't really counted them) and the each word is spoken, an English definition is given, and then it is used in a sentence in Spanish. A free PDF file puts all this in print and adds an written English definition of the sentence.

I set up the following pattern. I transferred the spoken narrative to my computer so I could excercise easier control over playing it (frequent stops and going back a few moments in the narrative). I already knew most of the words, but I couldn't understand the sentences though I knew most of those other words also. I would take one letter of the alphabet and listen to each sentence, trying to repeat orally what I had just heard. Then, on another time through, I would try to write the sentence I just heard. I would work on each letter until I could understand each sentence, repeat each sentence orally, and write each sentence after hearing it. After couple of weeks, I was understanding much more spoken Spanish--not necessarily just those words that I studied, but many other words. I believe that the intensity of listening required to repeat the sentences and trying to write the sentences helped me to learn to listen and hear the sounds. Also, I found that I was more fluent in my speaking and I was learning how to spell the words, along with proper placement of accent marks.

I should add that I also used Immersion Plus Spanish CD along with this so as to hear a variety of different voices.

I am stil working on all this, but in just three weeks, I feel that I am understanding more Spanish each day--for the first time I can understand enough to listen to Spanish programming on TV. I'm 70 years old, and my learning needs are probably very different from many other people, but I can say that this CD has been very helpful to me.

Good for empty time like a commute
I think the folks giving this set bad reviews are missing the point. These disks are pure repetition. I leave them in my vehicle and just let them play when I'm driving. And I play them over and over and over.

You're not going to pick up everything. But you will start noticing you pick out words and phrases better with each time through. Sometimes, plain old repetition can be a good learning tool.